Meridian Water to forge ahead after council buys strategic sites

Enfield Council has purchased three plots of land to house 1,500 homes on the site of the Meridian Water development, enabling the project to forge ahead.

The £1.5 billion scheme will create approximately 8,000 new homes, 3,000 new jobs, better public transport links and infrastructure including schools, shops, restaurants and a health centre in a waterfront setting in Edmonton.

Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Housing Regeneration, Cllr Ahmet Oykener, said: “This purchase will help kick start the delivery on homes at Meridian Water and is an exciting step forward for this incredibly ambitious and exciting scheme.

“Meridian Water will drive the regeneration of both Enfield and North London and create a fantastic waterfront community in the heart of our borough providing thousands of high quality family homes in a superb setting.”

Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration & Business Development, Cllr Alan Sitkin, said: “Our holistic vision of bringing together employment opportunities with transportation, retail, leisure and housing means that Meridian Water is bound to become one of London's most sustainable addresses in the years to come."

The purchase of nine hectares of land from National Grid last month also enabled Enfield Council to apply for Housing Zone Status for Meridian Water from the Greater London Authority and the council hopes that the status will be announced soon.

Enfield Council is also looking to buy three more sites which would enable a further 2,500 homes to be built.

The Council has also made good progress in coordinating the essential infrastructure the scheme needs to be successful.

Network Rail has approved funding to provide an additional third track increasing rail provision to the Meridian Water development to four trains an hour from 2018. In March this year Cabinet approved a funding package so the new Meridian Water station could be built in the same year.

A new Meridian Angel primary school has been approved and will open next year, and the Angel Gardens park will be completed by the end of the year. Plans for the new Meridian Boulevard are underway with construction due to start in 2015 and the Lee Valley Heat Network company has been established to supply heat and hot water to homes at Meridian Water in 2018.

The council is in the process of creating the Meridian Water multi-disciplinary team to manage the project. The team will comprise an expert architects, planners, landscape architects, surveyors, engineers, transport planners and environmental consultants with a role of advising the Council throughout the project.